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Saturday, January 17, 2015

About the book:

Gianna Mancini has chatted with ghosts most of her life. It’s never affected her much.

Until now.

The latest ghost in Gianna’s family-centric, boy-complicated, job-depleted world is Emma Tinsdale, a woman Gianna despises. Wanting Emma out of her apartment and her orbit, Gianna chooses to help her move on, but she doesn’t expect to come across poisonous jam, a vengeful cop, or a group of friendly clowns.

When a relative is framed for Emma’s death, Gianna must dig deeper and faster to find out what really happened that fatal night on the beach. With help from her sister, her cop brother, and her ex-boyfriend, Julian, she gets close to figuring out the truth. But when the killer closes in, Gianna better watch her step unless she wants to become the latest member of the dearly departed.

Interview with Jennifer Fischetto

Jennifer, tell us about your series. Is this book a standalone, or do readers need to read the series in order?One Garish Ghost & Blueberry Peach Jam is the first book in the Dead by the Numbers Mysteries series. There is a short story, a prequel to this book, in the Cozy Christmas Capers anthology, called "A Christmas Ghost & Zero Regrets." That collection of short stories (19 shorts total) by Gemma Halliday Publishing authors is available until January 31, 2015. After then, my short will be available separately.

Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Long Beach, New York. It’s on Long Island and a beach community. I lived across the street from the boardwalk, beach, and Atlantic Ocean the first fifteen years of my life.

If you had $100 a week to spend on yourself, what would you buy?
Books. Notebooks. Food/snacks. And more books.

What’s one thing that you wish you knew as a teenager that you know now?
I wish I knew how awesome I am/was. I wish I loved myself. I grew up very insecure and had a lot of negative self-thoughts. It took many years to shake that. I still sometimes hear negative thoughts, but now I know they aren’t true. As a teen though, I believed them. This is one of the reasons I also write young adult mysteries.

What choices in life would you like to have a redo on?
None. I’ve made many “mistakes,” and I wish I had made some better choices, but I believe everything happens for a reason and everything is a learning experience. I don’t think I’d be where I am now or have the amazing kids I have if I was able to redo anything.

What makes you nervous?
I get anxious doing something, or especially going someplace, I’ve never been before. I’m working on this.

What makes you excited?
Brainstorming a new book is very exciting. There are so many possibilities.

If you could only save one thing from your house, what would it be?
Aside from my kids and cat? I’d grab my MacBook. It was expensive.

Would you rather be a lonely genius, or a sociable idiot?
A lonely genius. I have social anxiety so being around people isn’t always easy. It depends on the situation and whether or not I know the people, but I’m fine not being sociable.

What would your main character say about you?
Gianna would say that I spend way too much time indoors and I don’t have nearly as much fun as she does. But she’d also admire my loyalty, my great ear for listening, and my trustworthiness. But if she was in my life, I’d totally be her partner-in-crime.

One of your characters has just found out you’re about to kill him off. He/she decides to beat you to the punch. How would he kill you?
Haha. I love food, so he’d poison me. Something untraceable and quick in a batch of fudgey-gooey brownies. There is very little chocolate I will refuse.

What book are you currently reading and in what format (e-book/paperback/hardcover)? Servants of the Storm by Delilah S Dawson. It’s in print, hardcover. I love dark books and young adult, so I read a lot of that.

Where and when do you prefer to do your writing?
I prefer to do it first thing in the morning at my desk. But in the winter, I also love doing it in the evening when it’s dark. It makes sitting at my desk cozy, and I feel like I’m alone in the world. Love that. LOL.

What’s the best compliment you’ve ever received about your writing?
I was told that I write great characterization and plots. This was said by an industry person whom I admire, so it meant a lot to me. By readers, I’ve loved the comments that say the book had a lot of twists and turns (my YA book, I Spy Dead People).

What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever had to write?
The first Jamie Bond book, Unbreakable Bond, was almost torture for me. LOL. I was so nervous that my co-author (and now publisher), Gemma Halliday, would hate my contribution. I feared she’d regret her choice to ask me to co-write with her, and it made the writing process so hard to do. I second-guessed every single word I wrote. Ugh! But luckily she was impressed.

What would your dream office look like?
Oh, I’ve dreamed of this. Haha. It would be in a sunroom of types. It’s all glass enclosed, but tall, ceiling-to-floor, narrow windowpanes, not big sheets of glass. It’s heated and has central air, so it’s not exactly a sunroom but looks like it. I have two desks, cabinets, bookshelves . . . the works. There’s a huge, oversized armchair and plenty of snacks. And it overlooks the ocean and beach, but it’s a private beach and there are never any people on the sand.

No joke, you just described my dream office! What are you working on now?
I am currently co-writing book 4 in the Jamie Bond series. It should release this summer.

Other books by Jennifer Fischetto

I Spy Dead People

Unbreakable Bond

Secret Bond

Lethal Bond

About the author:

Jennifer Fischetto is the National Bestselling Author of the Jamie Bond Mysteries. Unbreakable Bond, her adult debut novel, has received a National Reader's Choice award nomination. She writes dead bodies for ages 13 to six-feet-under. When not writing, she enjoys reading, cooking, singing (off-key), and watching an obscene amount of TV. She also adores trees, thunderstorms, and horror movies—the scarier the better. She lives in Western Mass with her family and is currently working on her next project.